Some of the world's greatest artists and architects - Bramante, Raphael, San Gallo and Michelangelo - worked on Saint Peter's Basilica, the premier church of Roman Catholic Christianity. The object of continual improvements and additions, it is the fruit of 11 succeesing centuries of labor. The Basilica is front by Saint Peter's Square, a forecourt replete with colossal statues, magnificent fountains and an obelisk which, together, give the "piazza" its exalted bearing.